Dr. Rowan Vale
Named a carnation after his wife and an orchid after his enemy.
A glasshouse filled with birds and exotic plants
The Gilded Cage
An aviary, a botanist, and a very poisonous orchid.
The glasshouse at Fairholt is the pride of the estate and the obsession of a botanist who trusts plants more than people. When the under-gardener is found among the orchids with the doors locked and the birds silent, the household must decide which bloom was the murder weapon.
Players8–12
Evening2.5 hours
HostingEasy to host
Written forAdults, 16+
The story
The Gilded Cage plays in three acts with a dinner break the script plans for. Times below assume a 7pm start; every kit includes a version for a later table.
Act I7:00 pm
The Catalogue
Guests tour the glasshouse and are given the botanist's inventory. One specimen has been cut, and the cut is fresh.
Act II7:40 pm
The Glasshouse
The body is found. A locked door, a broken pane, and a glass of water that should have been a glass of wine.
Act III8:30 pm
The Specimen
The host passes the herbarium around the table, and each guest explains their own handwriting in the ledger.
The cast
Six to 12 roles are written; the kit scales down by folding the smallest parts into the host. Each character arrives with a public face and a private problem.
Mrs. Beatrice Vale
Has the keys to every lock and the ear of every servant.
Silas Crumb
Knows what grows at night when nobody is watching.
Miss Lottie Dean
Draws the specimens beautifully and the household accurately.
Clues & evidence
Four of the nine clues
- A herbarium sheet with a missing label
- A garden fork wiped clean only at the handle
- A tin of ground seeds labelled as tea
- A birdcage door left open on purpose
Props unique to this kit
- A glasshouse key on a ribbon with an unfamiliar crest
- A pressed orchid with a note pinned to it
- A horticultural society medal, engraved and then scratched out